A chart from the report shows the height of tidal waves that affected Myanmar and Thailand.

WAVES that hit the Myanmar coast after the devastating December 26 tsunami were no more that three metres high, a team of Myanmar and Japanese scientists said in a report released earlier this month.

‘’The relatively smaller tsunami heights explain why the tsunami casualties were much smaller than those of other countries, especially Thailand, where wave heights were reportedly five to 20 metres,” said the report.

The report was presented at a seminar held by the Myanmar Engineering Society at MICT Park on June 18. It was posted on the website of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology of Japan on June 16.

The report was based on a two-week survey conducted in March by a team of 12 scientists from the Geological Survey of Japan – which funded the exercise – and six Myanmar institutions.

The survey was conducted in the Ayeyarwaddy delta, along the coast of Tanintharyi Division and in the Myeik Archipelago according to the procedures of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

The report said two factors – the nature of the tsunamis’ source and the natural features of Myanmar coast – were the main reasons for the smaller waves and damage compared to other countries.

It said the earthquake which caused the tsunami occurred along a fault running north-south, which meant the greatest damage was caused to its east and west.

This was why Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka were more seriously affected than India, the Andaman Islands and Myanmar, the report said.

It said the coast in Tanintharyi Division was protected by the islands of the Myeik Archipelago, while the Ayeyarwaddy delta was protected by loose sediment and sand bars.

U Tint Lwin Swe, a geologist at Yangon Technology University and one of the team members, said the report was an essential, important step for implementing a tsunami warning system in Myanmar.

‘’It was important to identify scientifically why the tsunami damage was much smaller than other affected regions and the vulnerability of the Myanmar coast to future tsunamis,” he said.

U Tint Lwin Swe said the report took months to complete because the team needed to correct the height and estimated arrival times of the waves, which had been based on information collected by witnesses.

The chairman of the Myanmar Engineering Society, U Than Myint, said the report provided valuable data for Myanmar and international scientists who study earthquakes and tsunamis.

He said the report will be included in a study on the December 26 tsunami being prepared by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute in the United States.

‘’They were pleased when I told them we would send them the report because they have little scientific information about the Myanmar situation,” he said.

The report showed most of the damage occurred in the delta region, where the team found that 26 people had died in the 19 villages surveyed. The government said the national death toll from the tsunami was 61.

The report concluded with a call to implement a tsunami warning system in Myanmar.

‘’Our interviews indicate that the people did not feel the earthquake.... The only way to notify them … is through a tsunami warning system,” the report said.

The report said many houses built along the coast offered no protection against tsunamis and residents in most areas surveyed lived in flat areas with no higher land nearby to which they could escape.